RICHMOND, Ky. - Having won all five Ohio Valley Conference series thus far (EKU stands 12-3 in league play and in first place in the conference standings for those teams that have played a full 15 - game league schedule) and four games in a row, coach Jim Ward's Eastern Kentucky University Colonel baseball team hosts Eastern Illinois University in a three-game OVC set Friday and Saturday at Turkey Hughes Field.

The Colonels have stretched their current winning streak to four games by defeating Xavier (OH) Tuesday, 6-3, and Wright State, 3-0, Wednesday.

Eastern took the measure of Tennessee Tech last weekend, taking 10-1 and 10-3 decisions from the Golden Eagles after losing the series opener, 7-0.

"We got good pitching, played good defense and had timely hitting in two out of the three games against Tech. When you do that, chances are you're going to win," said Ward, who won his 900th collegiate Division I victory in the 10-1 win Saturday.

Ward is coaching in his 32nd year of NCAA Division I baseball, the last 21 at Eastern Kentucky after spending 11 seasons at Stetson.  His record at EKU is 592-488 and his record at Stetson was 311-185.  He stands 19th in the nation among active Division I coaches in number of victories.

In Ward's historic game game Saturday, sophomore righthander Scott Santa went the distance, allowing just four hits and striking out eight. In Sunday's nine-inning game, senior lefthander Corey Eagle pitched eight strong innings, allowing just three runs and four hits. Senior righthanded reliever Jeff Sharp pitched a perfect ninth inning for the Colonels Sunday.

"Corey likes to pitch on Sundays so he can study the other team's hitters in the Saturday games," said Ward. "He was able to establish his inside pitch and that helped him a lot.

"Scott looked impressive Saturday and did another good job. He has had a very solid season for us so far."

Leading the hit parade Sunday for Eastern was sophomore leftfielder Aaron Williams who was 4-5 with three runs scored and two RBI's.

"Aaron had a good game. He had been practicing well. I believe we'll leave him in that No. 2 hole," said Ward.

Senior first baseman Lee Chapman was 3-5 with his seventh home run of the season and three RBI's in the series finale to up his season's mark to .278.

Senior second baseman Adam Basil extended his EKU consecutive - game on-base streak record to 47 games (which was stopped in the win over Xavier Tuesday) over a two-year period in the three-game set by walking twice in the series opener, going 2-3 in the second game with two RBI's and hitting a long, two-run home run, his fourth of the year in the Sunday game. Basil is leading the team and the conference with his .450 batting average and is ranked among the nation's leaders in this category.

Southeast Missouri leads the conference in winning percentage (.818, 9-2 league mark), followed by EKU (.800, 12-3). Murray State and Middle Tennessee are tied for third at 8-3. EIU is 7-7 in fifth place, while Tennessee Tech is 5-6. Rounding out the bottom three are Austin Peay at 3-9, Morehead State at 2-10 and UT Martin at 0-11.